Using WordPress Keyboard Shortcuts to Increase Efficiency

For most people, owning and operating a website will involve performing a lot of small tasks over and over again, and then waking up the next day to do those same tasks some more, so it’s always nice to find a shortcut. This small guide will explain a few of the time-saving shortcuts that can also be viewed in full on this WordPress tips infographic.

If you are constantly dealing with spam comments on your WordPress site, and haven’t disabled comments completely out of sheer frustration, then you may be interested in learning a few shortcuts to make the whole process a little more bearable. First of all, enable keyboard shortcuts for comment moderation in the Users > Your Profile section of your dashboard (or enable it for whichever user wants them, if not yourself).

The following keys can now be used to navigate comments and perform actions:

Most people already know about using Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V to copy and paste, but there is a whole lot more you could be doing with that useful little key. Learning these shortcuts will save you time while writing posts because you can leave both hands on the keyboard without having to reach for the mouse. The following list is not complete; it contains only the most commonly used shortcuts.

Ctrl+A = Select all.

Ctrl+X = Cut.

Ctrl+Z = Undo.

Ctrl+Y = Redo.

Ctrl+B = Puts bold style on selected text.

Ctrl+I = Puts italic style on selected text.

Ctrl+U = Puts underline style on selected text.

Ctrl+K = Insert link on selected text, or edit existing link.

Using Plugins for More Shortcuts

There are some free WordPress plugins available that add more keyboard shortcuts to help navigate the dashboard faster and more easily. One of these plugins is WP Hotkeys which not only introduces new navigation keys, but also provides on-screen hints that show which keys to press next to the menus and elements you would normally have to click on. These keyboard shortcuts are also fully customizable so you can setup your workspace the way you like it, which will allow you to learn the keys faster and more comfortably.

Having all of these keyboard shortcuts may not sound like such a big deal to some people, but just give it a try and you will see how useful and time-saving they can be. When you are spending more time writing and less time clicking, you simply get more work done and you’re able to produce content faster.